Category: chapbook

A chapbook of poems and letters inspired by the life of notorious swindler and thief, Chicago May. The title is one she earned for developing her own highly lucrative version of the Badger Game, a well-known blackmail scheme of its day. May was unconventional, unlikable, independent and bold. The path she chose was rough and often violent but it was the life she wanted and she was unapologetic about being a criminal right to the end.

I don’t seek to glorify her or her deeds by writing this chapbook. Simply, I wanted to explore my deep fascination with a woman who had a fierce determination to strike out on her own and make a life for herself outside the expected bounds of gender, morality or propriety.